OLINInnovative Engineering Education

At a Glance2012–13

C O L L E G EO F E N G I N E E R I N G

About Olin The idea for Olin goes back nearly two decades. That’s when the National Science Foundation

and the leaders of the engineering community began urging fundamental reforms in engineer-

ing education, including more emphasis on entrepreneurship, teamwork and communication.

The F.W. Olin Foundation took up the challenge, committing more than $460 million to create

a new undergraduate engineering college. Bringing together some of the best minds and the

best ideas in engineering education, Olin developed a hands-on, interdisciplinary program

geared toward producing engineering innovators.

At a GlanceLocation Needham, Massachusetts, 14 miles west of Boston

First Commencement May 2006

Majors Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Engineering

Concentrations Bioengineering, Computing, Design, Materials Science, Systems

Admission Highly selective, with an emphasis on outstanding academic achievement and extracurriculars; special attention given to creativity, passion and enterprise

Scholarship Policy Every admitted student receives a four-year, half-tuition scholarship valued at more than $80,000

Funding The F.W. Olin Foundation committed in excess of $460 million to support the college, one of the largest grants in the history of higher education

Facilities Olin’s facilities encompass 382,000 square feet of first-class academic, adminis-trative and residential space, including a fully converged IT infrastructure, campus-wide wireless connectivity and state-of-the-art labs and classrooms

Partnerships Olin, Babson and Wellesley are part of a wide ranging collaboration that brings together liberal arts, business and engineering perspectives to tackle major societal issues

Alumni & Student Accomplishments• 72% of students completed an internship or research

assignment last summer

• On a per capita basis, Olin is one of the top producers of National Science Foundation (NSF) scholars in the country

• 39% of all alumni have been accepted or have attended graduate school; of those

• 44% who entered a STEM graduate program attend a Top 10 graduate school as defined by U.S. News & World Report

• 24% who entered a STEM graduate program won a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

• Undergraduate alumni giving rate ranked #1 nationally by the Council for Aid to Education

Institutional Accomplishments • Admission rate is 19% — placing Olin among the most

selective colleges and universities in the country

• Founding leadership received Gordon Prize for innovation in engineering and technological education (2013)

• Olin named one of “New Ivies” by Kaplan/Newsweek (2005)

• Ranked #6 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs, non-doctoral, by U.S. News & World Report (2012)

• Ranked #1 in nation among ‘Colleges Where it’s Easiest to Get Involved,’ according to U.S. News & World Report (2011)

• Ranked #1 Top 10 Financial Aid Providers by Parents & Colleges

• Ranked as a Top Fulbright Scholar producer by the Chronicle of Higher Education four times since 2006

• Named Best 377 College, Best Value College + Best in the Northeast by Princeton Review (2012)

• Additional 2012 Princeton Review rankings include:

• #2 Students Study the Most

• #4 Best College Dorms

• #10 Best Quality of Life

• #10 Best Classroom Experience

• #17 Great Financial Aid

• #18 Their Students Love This College

• #19 Professors Get High Marks

• #19 Lots of Race/Class Interaction

• Named one of the Fiske Guide’s 2013 Best Buy Schools

Olin Makes its MarkThe college has garnered a national reputation for innovation

in engineering education, and its alumni are making their

mark at top companies, entrepreneurial ventures and graduate

schools. Below are statistics that highlight our accomplish-

ments to date:

Faculty ProfileTheir expertise ranges from astrophysics to Chopin, from

circuit design to entrepreneurship, from robotics to genetics.

Working with the faculty are academic partners and

instructors.

Full-time 35 (37% women/63% men)

Part-time and Adjunct 13 (46% women/54% men)

Student to Faculty Ratio 9 to 1

Passion Undergraduate teaching and working with students on research and scholarly activities

Innovation No tenure awarded; no academic departments; many faculty are multi-disciplinary

SCOPE Senior Capstone Program in Engineering

Olin’s hands-on curriculum culminates in SCOPE, a substantial, year-long project under the

realistic constraints of a corporation or other sponsor. As part of SCOPE, the sponsor supplies

an authentic, challenging engineering problem. Olin provides a student engineering team, a

dedicated project space, a faculty adviser and access to the Olin technology base.

Working according to the highest professional standards in teams with approximately five to

seven members, the students spend more than one

fourth of their senior year

working on the project

over two semesters.

Projects involve multiple

engineering disciplines,

including elements of

engineering science,

engineering design and

entrepreneurship.

SUPERB ENGINEERING

ENTR

EPRE

NEURS

HIP

ARTS, HUMANITIES

and SOCIAL SCIENCESThe Olin CurriculumThe Olin curriculum is a synthesis of creative ideas and best practices in engineering education.

Its aim is to apply new ways to teach engineering, and to graduate students who are prepared to

lead technological innovation in the 21st century.

The Olin curriculum is based on the Olin Triangle of rigorous science and engineering, entrepre-

neurship and the liberal arts. Equally important is a dedication to lifelong learning, so students

can continually update their skills to meet new technical challenges.

From the beginning students learn through team-based, hands-on projects and tackle open-

ended problems, the kind that go far beyond the textbook and call for a considerable amount of

creativity and initiative. The curriculum also emphasizes interdisciplinary learning,

communication and the role of design in engineering.

To produce the kind of well-rounded, creative students it envisions, Olin

supports a “learning continuum” that extends from classroom work to

research, independent study, personal passions and other areas which,

taken together, make up Olin’s unique learning environment.

SCOPE Sponsors 2012–13AGCOAnalogicAriensArmy Research LabAutodeskBoeingBoston ScientificBrandeis UniversityDePuy MitekFacebookHutchinson/Barry ControlsOricaParietal SystemsRaytheon

Academic AffairsVincent MannoProvostDean of Faculty781-292-2591vincent.manno@olin.edu

AdmissionCharles S. NolanVice President Dean of Admission781-292-2201 charles.nolan@olin.edu

DevelopmentJ. Thomas KrimmelVice President for Development781-292-2291thomas.krimmel@olin.edu

FinanceStephen P. HannaburyExecutive Vice President and Treasurer781-292-2401stephen.hannabury@olin.edu

Information Technology and OperationsJoanne KossuthVice President for OperationsChief Information Officer 781-292-2431joanne.kossuth@olin.edu

Marketing and Communication Michelle DavisChief Marketing Officer781-292-2251michelle.davis@olin.edu

Office of the President Richard K. MillerPresident781-292-2301 richard.miller@olin.edu

Post Graduate PlanningSally PhelpsDirector of Post Graduate Planning781-292-2281 sally.phelps@olin.edu

SCOPE ProgramAndrew BennettSCOPE Director781-292-2522 andrew.bennett@olin.edu

Student LifeRod CraftsDean of Student Life781-292-2321rod.crafts@olin.edu

Olin College Contacts

Franklin W. Olin College of EngineeringOlin WayNeedham, MA 02492-1200781-292-2300

www.olin.edu

Nondiscrimination Statement Olin College does not discriminate in admission, employment, or other college-administered programs on the basis of race, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, gender, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, or veteran, marital or citizenship status.

Employment, Graduate Schools, Research and InternshipsStudents enter Olin College ready for real-world challenges.

Many of them spend summers in labs, corporations and service

organizations after just one year at Olin. The project-based,

real-world learning at Olin prepares them, and our Office of Post

Graduate Planning helps to place them. The following informa-

tion represents data from Olin’s 501 alumni, classes of 2006–12.

Top 10 Employers athenahealth

Boeing

Google

Intuit

Microsoft *

Raytheon Corp./ Raytheon BBN *

Rockwell Automation *

Synapse Product Development

Twitter

United States Navy

Top 10 Intern EmployersApple

Boston Scientific *

GE

Google

Intuit

Microsoft *

MITRE *

Raytheon BBN *

SoftArtisans

Twitter

* Denotes a company that has also sponsored a SCOPE project

Top 10 Graduate SchoolsBabson College

Carnegie Mellon University

Cornell University

Harvard University

MIT

Stanford University

University of California, Berkeley

University of Illinois

University of Washington

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Top 10 Summer Research ProgramsBoston University

Caltech

Cornell University

Harvard University

IMEC – Belgium

Johns Hopkins University

MIT

University of California, Berkeley

UCLA

University of Massachusetts

Alumni ProfileClasses of 2006–12 at six months post-graduation

Employed or in Graduate School 98%

• Employed 55%

• Graduate school in Engineering, Math or Science 29%

• Graduate School – Other 10%

• Entrepreneurs 5%

Other 2%

Fulbright Scholars 9

Goldwater Scholarships 1; Honorable Mentions 2

Gates Cambridge Scholarship 1

Class of 2016 ProfileApplicants 782

Invited to Candidate Weekends 210

Admitted 151

Enrolled 83 students

Geography 23 states; 5 foreign countries

Average GPA 3.9/4.0 (unweighted)

Percent Female/Male 43% women/57% men

Recognized by National Scholarship Programs 31%

Leadership 82% participated in community service; 71% musicians; 60% athletes; 58% competed on academic teams; 43% held a job during high school; 37% involved with robot-ics; 30% drama/theater; 23% involved in research projects; 22% were student government officers; 21% worked on student publications

This class includes students who:

• Gave a TEDx presentation on a new form of digital encryption

• Won the U.S. Presidential Volunteer Service Award (2)

• Ran six half-marathons

• Founded a high school robotics team

• Helped manage an online community of over 200,000 members

• Installed solar panels in Uganda

• Was a finalist for the Broadway cast of ‘Newsies’

• Developed an iPhone app (that solves triangles) with Objective-C and published it in iOS app store

• Built an ROV to capture images of a sunken barge in New Hampshire

• Created a Japanese language tutoring system

• Started a non-profit that gives toiletries to the homeless

• Redesigned molecular cloning labs

Student ProfileEnrollment 342 students — 48% women/52% men

Origins 38 states, 10 countries, 23 foreign nationals

First-to-Second Year Retention Rates 96%

Six-year Graduation Rate 94%

National Merit Finalists 30%